John Young has been selected as the new General Manager of the Laurens Commission of Public Works. After an executive session discussion that included the personnel matter, the Commissioners returned to open session Friday and voted unanimously to promote John Young as the next General Manager. He assumes to the position on February 1st, with the retirement of Dale Satterfield. The Commissioners Friday thanked Satterfield for his 32 years of service with the Commission. Satterfield has retired from the only full-time place of employment in his career to become to new Manager of the Clinton Public Works Department. His wife and one of his sons were in attendance at his last meeting as General Manager Friday morning.
John Young is currently the Assistant General Manager of the Laurens CPW. As for the new position, Young said “ “I am grateful to the Commission Board for their vote of confidence and support and grateful to Dale for all his support and assistance he has given me over the last several years and look forward to carrying out the vision the Commissioners have given us.”
Implementation of a new rate structure will be one of the first matters for the new General Manger to oversee. The Commissioners adopted new rates as recommended at the December meeting. These call for a 5% adjustment in Water and Sewer use volume rates, adjustment of Water and Sewer Facility charges to conform to AWWA standard and adjustment of rates for customers outside the city limits to reflect a true 1.5% above inside rates across customer classes. Other changes approved Friday include 1.47% adjustment in electric rates, adjusting the PPAC to reflect true coast and to show a separate billing component for PPAC on customer’s bills and to adjust the PGA to reflect the cost of Natural Gas more accurately.